Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Faced with a serious transportation problem on its sprawling technical center campus in a Detroit suburb, General Motors Co. has turned to a solution that predates cars – bicycles. GM has launched a bike share program for 19,000 employees at its Warren Technical Center. It will help them navigate the 61 buildings on the 330-acre campus and provide convenient transportation for errands in the surrounding community. Employees at the tech center might think using bikes to get around is a foreign concept, but they appear game. “This is good for exercise, good for on-campus mobility and a nice way to actually learn more about non-auto transportation,” said John Waechter, designing engineer at the Tech Center. The bikes will compete with walking, a shuttle bus system and cars. Waechter said he thinks cycling will be quicker than walking and have one advantage over driving because he won’t have to search for a parking place. Read more in the LA Times.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

A breakthrough in cycle safety was unveiled today as work began to create the first fully segregated roundabout in London. Cyclists and vehicles will be kept apart by using raised kerbs and separate traffic lights on the Queen’s Circus roundabout in Battersea. The interchange is not notorious for collisions, but Wandsworth council decided to make the improvements to prioritise cycling and walking as the Nine Elms area is redeveloped. The roundabout is used by thousands of commuter cyclists each day as it lies on Boris Johnson’s bike super- highway 8 linking Wandsworth and Westminster. Its use is expected to increase as former industrial areas of north Battersea are being transformed with the redevelopment of Battersea power station and the relocation of the US embassy.The new roundabout, right, which will also have pedestrian crossings, is the first to attempt to keep cyclists and motorists fully segregated in London. Work is due to be completed next summer. Read on here.

A day in the life of a New York Citibike From an investment banker at 7.50am to a solar product start-up entrepreneur more than 12 hours later, The Guardian follows the fortunes of a New York Citibike for a day. London, an impression: It is 8am on a warm morning. Waterloo station in London is the city's busiest bicycle hire dock, and this is its busiest time of day. There are no bikes, of course. As quickly as vans unload cycles – 400 of them by 10am – the cycles disappear. We want to know how the cycle hire scheme is used, who rides the bikes, and why. New York, an impression:Our bright blue Citibike, number 0919, starts its day early at the busiest Citibike station, on 42nd Street, outside Grand Central station. Last month, nearly 500 trips started or ended here every day. 7.50am Yuri K, 39, rushes towards Citibike 0919. He just got off the train from Westchester, Connecticut, and is on his way to his office in Tribeca in downtown Manhattan. Read moreabout New York hereandabout London here.

A day in the life of a New York
Citibike From an investment banker at 7.50am to a solar product
start-up entrepreneur more than 12 hours later, The Guardian follows the
fortunes of a New York Citibike for a day. London, an impression: It is
8am on a warm morning. Waterloo station in London is the city's
busiest bicycle hire dock, and this is its busiest time of day. There are no
bikes, of course. As quickly as vans unload cycles – 400 of them by 10am –
the cycles disappear. We want to know how the cycle hire scheme is used, who
rides the bikes, and why. New York, an impression:Our bright blue Citibike,
number 0919, starts its day early at the busiest Citibike station, on 42nd
Street, outside Grand Central station. Last month, nearly 500 trips started or
ended here every day. 7.50am Yuri
K, 39, rushes towards Citibike 0919. He just got off the train from
Westchester, Connecticut, and is on his way to his office in Tribeca in
downtown Manhattan. Read moreabout New York hereandabout London here.

Monday, August 18, 2014

Research in the Connect2 Program provides evidence that improved, high-quality, traffic-free routes for walking and cycling may help to increase overall physical activity levels in the local population and thereby contribute to the primary prevention of a range of noncommunicable diseases. This lends support to recent calls to increase the provision of such routes in local communities.The findings from case study sites may in principle be generalizable to other, similar projects planned within and beyond the Connect2 program. It is plausible that intervention effects will become even stronger as more destinations become connected by a high-quality network that constitutes a higher dose of intervention. Through such improvements to infrastructure (and its supporting evidence base), we hope that communities will progressively realize the substantial health and environmental benefits of making walking and cycling a convenient, safe, and attractive everyday activity. Read more here.

Thursday, August 7, 2014

It was built in 22 months, the underground bicycle parking facility at Rotterdam’s new Central Railway Station. It was opened in November 2013 and it has parking spaces for 5,190 bicycles. Making it the largest of the country (to date), at just a bit bigger than the runner-up. The majority of the parking spaces can be used completely free of charge. This is one of several very large parking facilities that were opened in recent years at main intercity railway stations in the Netherlands. But even relatively small towns have large facilities.Houten(2011; 3,000 spaces) is a prime example and the “bicycle apple” inAlphen a/d Rijn(2010; 1,000 spaces) also shows that the Dutch arrive by bicycle at their railway stations in very high numbers. On average in the entire country 40% of the train travellers arrive by bicycle so combining modes of travel is very common in the Netherlands. That makes it necessary for the authorities to facilitate parking all those bicycles. All these large facilities popping up around the country is not because there is a race going on to have the best or biggest facility. Read on in Bicycle Dutch.

Friday, August 1, 2014

Cycling is a transport mode with high social benefits. It is good for health, cheap, provides more quality of life in cities, less pollution, better use of the limited space. Cycling also provides in its way a direct contribution to the local economy through the sale and especially the maintenance of bicycles. Very often, however, more cycling also means a higher accident risk. The effects were studied for 2012 and 2030. The 2030 effects were calculated with a small model based for a situation with a 10% modal share for cycling. The main conclusions on the impacts of a scenario with a cycling modal share of 10% in 2030 can be read in: 'Estimation of the direct and indirect impacts of cycling today and in the future'. Final report (in French) can be found on the website of La Service Public de Wallonie DGO2. Also read Social Cost and Benefits of investment in cycling.